It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

Commentary and links about Korea, politics, current events, urban legends and other myths and rumors.

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

DPRK ON LATEST U.S. MOVES:

Korean Central News Agency ("U.S. URGED TO STOP ANTI-DPRK PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AND BLOCKADE OPERATION," Pyongyang, 06/23/03) reported that the US is busy with psychological warfare and blockade operation to disarm and stifle the DPRK, while paying lip service to the "peaceful solution" to the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula. The US is resorting to mean acts to isolate the DPRK on the international arena under such absurd pretexts as "drug smuggling," "counterfeiting of money," "suppression of religion," "human traffic" and "training of computer hackers", instead of sitting face to face with the DPRK for a reasonable dialogue.

I actually have some sympathy for the "paying lip service to the 'peaceful solution' interpretation of American actions. It would be easier to have more sympathy for the DPRK, however, if it weren't so blatantly involved in all of the "absurd pretexts" that the U.S. is highlighting. The North Koreans continue:

The US has gained ill-fame as the biggest drug smuggler, a rogue state and a country with the world's poorest human rights record and the biggest flesh trafficker. It is ludicrous, indeed, for such a country to bring those charges to the DPRK.

The U.S. clearly is a huge market for drugs, an hence probably is indeed one the biggest "smugglers" of drugs. "Rogue state"? Some would argue so after the "unilateral" invasion of Iraq. "[W]orld's poorest human rights record"? There is plenty to complain about in the U.S.: crowded prisons with miserable treatment of prisoners, death row in Texas, the Total Information Awareness Agency (thankfully put on hold for the present). But "world's poorest"? Coming from a nation that watched two million people starve to death while scarce resources went to the military and to congac for elites, a regime that sends entire families to labor camps for the indiscretion of a single member and a regime that allegedly takes triplets away from their parents so one of them doesn't grow up to overthrow the Kim Dynasty, this is an interesting allegation indeed. "[B]iggest flesh trafficker"? Again, some to complain about in the U.S. but far from "biggest. Par for the course in DPRK-speak though.